Information processing apparatus, printing processing method, and program therefor

ABSTRACT

The present invention aims that in a printing environment holding only a print instruction and a print data, a printing system capable of updating, changing, correcting, etc. only an additional drawing object is provided by holding an instruction about printing of an additional drawing object (added information) based on the print instruction. In printing out print data on a target page with an additional drawing object added, a job ticket generation means generates a job ticket according to the information about an additional drawing object and instruction information about the printout. Printout means perform printout based on the job ticket generated by the job ticket generating means.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to an information processingapparatus, a printing processing method, and a program therefor used inprinting information according to a print instruction such as process,display, print, etc. (hereinafter also referred to as a “job ticket”),and more specifically used for the apparatus or system for performing aprinting processing on the information according to a print instructionfor control of the added information output capability in a printingenvironment holding a print instruction and print data.

[0003] 2. Related Background Art

[0004] When a certain data to be printed (print data) is output, forexample, the following methods (1) to (4) have conventionally beensuggested as control methods for printing the data using an addedinformation output capability such as an overlay output capability, etc.(1) In the control method described in Japanese Patent ApplicationLaid-Open No. 2-135524, etc., in a printer having an overlay outputcapability, the overlay output capability performs printout controlbased on a control command for the printer.

[0005] (2) In the control method described in Japanese PatentApplication Laid-Open No. 8-202863, etc., print data (image data) isrecorded in the internal memory of a printing device (printer) inadvance, instruction data and personal data indicating an overlay aretransmitted to the printing device, and the printing device combines thepersonal data and the specified image data and prints out the data.

[0006] (3) In the control method described in Japanese PatentApplication Laid-Open No. 11-143668, etc., desired print data istransmitted to a printer by recording the settings of a watermark, aform overlay, etc. which are the functions of a printer driver in a hostcomputer as a macro through a printer driver of the host computer, andexecuting the macro when necessary.

[0007] (4) Acrobat, an application of Adobe in the USA, enables anannotation to be added to a PDF document, and can switch back and forthbetween printing and no-printing of the annotation added to the documentduring printing. Additionally, a page number can be added to a PDFdocument.

[0008] Furthermore, there has recently been a system suggested forpreparing a print instruction to document data to be printed (printdata) as a job ticket independent of the document data, generating aprinting job for appropriately correcting print data according to theprint instruction described in the job ticket during printing, andperforming printing processing. Then, the description contents of thejob ticket have been standardized. Thus, the information about theprinting layout (Nup), the number of print sets, etc. can currently bedescribed in a job ticket in accordance with the JDF.

[0009] However, there have been the following problems (1) to (4) withthe above-mentioned conventional control methods (1) to (4).

[0010] Problem (1)

[0011] In the control method (1) described in Japanese PatentApplication Laid-Open No. 2-135524, etc., and the control method (2)described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-202863, etc., aprinting device has the function of overlaying image data (addedinformation output capability), a print instruction is issued for thefunction, and a process is performed according to the print instructionas a temporary process. Therefore, it is not possible to performprinting processing, etc. by reusing the print data stored in thenetwork.

[0012] Problem (2)

[0013] In the control method (3) described in Japanese PatentApplication Laid-Open No. 11-143668, a watermark, a form overlay, etc.which are the functions of a printer driver is recorded as a macrothrough the printer driver of the host computer. Therefore, it isdifficult to move the macro to, for example, another computer, server,etc. Furthermore, for example, printing processing cannot be performedby reusing print data stored in the network. Furthermore, when a macrois recorded, the settings of a printer driver are used, thereby, forexample, disabling control of data in a page unit.

[0014] Problem (3)

[0015] One of the common problems with the control methods (1) to (3)is, for example, that it is necessary to embed in advance addedinformation for corresponding print data in target print data when aprint instruction and print data are communicated through a network,etc.

[0016] Problem (4)

[0017] In Acrobat of Adobe in the USA, an annotation is added to adocument as described above, and the system can switch back and forthbetween printing and no-printing of the annotation added to the documentduring printing. However, the system can switch back and forth betweenprinting and no-printing of the entire annotations added to thedocument. That is, the system cannot switch back and forth betweenprinting a part of annotations and no-printing of another part ofannotations. Furthermore, selecting printing/no-printing an annotationis performed by a user using a print dialog during printing. Therefore,printing or no-printing is to be selected each time printing processingis performed, thereby causing the problem of poor operability.

[0018] The above-mentioned added information refers to data such as anannotation, a watermark, a form overlay, variable data (data forprinting data for clients in a specific position of printing such asdirect mail, etc.), etc. It is hereinafter referred to as an “additionaldrawing object”.

[0019] Furthermore, when an additional drawing object is embedded inprint data, there arise the following problems 1 to 4.

[0020] <1> When reprinting processing is performed using print data anda print instruction once handled in printing processing, the updating,changing, correcting processes, etc. cannot be performed exclusively onthe additional drawing object embedded in the corresponding print data.

[0021] <2> When the updating, changing, correcting processes, etc. arebeing tried exclusively on an additional drawing object, an applicationin which a process of embedding an additional drawing object in imagedata is required, and restrictions are placed on the operating system(OS), etc. operated in the application. Therefore, printableenvironments (for example, an OS, a printer, a display, etc.) have beenlimited. As a result, for example, it is impossible to issue a printcorrection instruction from a mobile phone, etc.

[0022] <3> When print data and a print instruction are exclusivelystored, it has been necessary to store an application in which anadditional drawing object is embedded in print data.

[0023] <4> When print data refers to a large volume of printing as manyas several thousand pages, it has been difficult to collectively update,change, correct, etc. an additional drawing object relating to the printdata on each page.

[0024] Since the currently standardized method of describing a jobticket includes no instructions for added information, the method ofembedding added information in the print data itself as described aboveis used. However, when added information is embedded in print data, theadded information is included in the print data. Therefore, only analternative selection is made such as whether or not an annotation is tobe printed during printing as in the Acrobat application, therebybringing a user an inconvenient method.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0025] The present invention has been developed to solve theabove-mentioned problems, and first aims at providing an informationprocessing apparatus, a printing processing method, and a programtherefor that are capable of updating, changing, correcting, etc.exclusively an additional drawing object by configuring the system suchthat an instruction to print an additional drawing object (addedinformation) in determining print settings in a printing environment ofgenerating print data and print settings (job ticket) for print data.

[0026] Secondly, the present invention aims at providing an informationprocessing apparatus, a printing processing method, and a programtherefor that are capable of setting the addition of an additionaldrawing object (added information) to the entire document by configuringthe system such that an instruction to provide the entire setting of aprint instruction (job ticket) for print data with added information,and an instruction to provide each arbitrary unit with added informationcan be held, and are capable of setting whether or not an additionaldrawing object is to be added to an arbitrary unit (outputsheet/manuscript page) independent of the entire setting.

[0027] The information processing apparatus according to the presentinvention solves the above-mentioned problems by the followingconfiguration.

[0028] An information processing apparatus issues a print instruction byadding an additional drawing object to document data to be printed, andincludes:

[0029] job ticket generation means for generating a job ticketdescribing print settings for document data; and

[0030] additional drawing object setting means for determining settingsfor an additional drawing object to be added to the document data,wherein

[0031] the job ticket generation means edits the job ticket depending onthe settings for the additional drawing object by the additional drawingobject setting means, and generates a job ticket describing a print flagindicating whether or not the additional drawing object is to beprinted.

[0032] The present invention also solves the problems by a printingprocessing method including the step of realizing each configuration ofthe above-mentioned information processing apparatus.

[0033] The present invention further solves the abovementioned problemsby a printing control program including the step of realizing eachconfiguration of the above-mentioned information processing apparatus.

[0034] Other features and advantages of the present invention will beapparent from the following description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate thesame or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the configuration of the printingsystem to which the present invention is applied in a first embodiment;

[0036]FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explanation of the operations of theprinting system;

[0037]FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explanation of a job ticket generatingprocess in the operations of the printing system;

[0038]FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explanation of an additional drawingobject relevant information setting process in the job ticket generatingprocess;

[0039]FIG. 5 is a flowchart for explanation of the printing processingof a print server in the operations of the printing system;

[0040]FIG. 6 is an explanatory view of an example of input data and anoutput result in the printing system;

[0041]FIG. 7 is an explanatory view of a job ticket obtained in the jobticket generating process;

[0042]FIG. 8 is an explanatory view of an example of the job ticket whenno trouble is detected in a process result in the printing system;

[0043]FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explanation of an additional drawingobject relevant information setting process in the job ticket generatingprocess in a second embodiment;

[0044]FIG. 10 is an explanatory view of an example of input data and anoutput result in the printing system in a second embodiment;

[0045]FIG. 11 is an explanatory view of a job ticket obtained in the jobticket generating process in a second embodiment;

[0046]FIG. 12 is an explanatory view of an example of the job ticketwhen no trouble is detected in a process result in the printing systemin a second embodiment;

[0047]FIG. 13 is a flowchart for explanation of an additional drawingobject relevant information setting process in the job ticket generatingprocess in a third embodiment;

[0048]FIG. 14 is an explanatory view of an example of input data and anoutput result in the printing system in a third embodiment;

[0049]FIG. 15 is an explanatory view of a job ticket obtained in the jobticket generating process in a third embodiment;

[0050]FIG. 16 is an explanatory view of an example of the job ticketwhen no trouble is detected in a process result in the printing systemin a third embodiment;

[0051]FIG. 17 which comprised of FIGS. 17A and 17B is a flowchart forexplanation of an additional drawing object relevant information settingprocess in the job ticket generating process in a fourth embodiment;

[0052]FIG. 18 is an explanatory view of an example of input data and anoutput result in the printing system in a fourth embodiment;

[0053]FIG. 19 is an explanatory view of a job ticket obtained in the jobticket generating process in a fourth embodiment;

[0054]FIG. 20 is an explanatory view of an example of the job ticketwhen no trouble is detected in a process result in the printing systemin a fourth embodiment; and

[0055]FIG. 21 is a block diagram of the configuration of a computerreading a program used to direct the computer to realize the function ofthe printing system from a computer-readable storage medium andexecuting the program.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0056] The embodiments of the present invention are described below byreferring to the attached drawings.

[0057] [First Embodiment]

[0058] The present invention is applied to the printing system as shownin FIG. 1.

[0059] <Configuration of Printing System>

[0060] The printing system is configured by connecting a host computer100 (a print data editing device 110, a central printing managementserver 120, and a document management server 150) which is aninformation processing apparatus, a print server 130, and an outputdevice (printing device) 140(x) through a network, etc. as communicableone another as shown in FIG. 1.

[0061] In FIG. 1, only one output device 140(x) is shown for simpleexplanation, but actually corresponds to an arbitrary output device140(x) in a plurality of output devices 140(1), 140(2), . . .

[0062] The print data editing device 110 of the host computer 100comprises a print information input unit 111, an additional drawingobject group setting unit 112, an additional drawing object printabilitysetting unit 113, and a job ticket generation unit 114.

[0063] The print information input unit 111 inputs document data(hereinafter referred to as print data) which is the manuscript forprinting, print data which is an additional drawing object for the printdata for each page forming the manuscript, and print information, etc.including a print instruction such as processing, displaying, printing,etc. of print data.

[0064] The print information input unit 111 practically includes thefunction that an output module specified as an output destination when adocument generated in an arbitrary application is output like the PDFWriter, receives the drawing contents (GDI function) output by anarbitrary application through a drawing means of the OS (DDI function),and converts them into a editable document format such as the PDF, etc.

[0065] Therefore, the document data passed from the print informationinput unit 111 to the job ticket generation unit 114 is represented asprint data in the following explanation, but corresponds to the documentin the format editable in the present system (for example, PDF), and isdifferent from a printer control command in a data format depending onthe output device as the PDL (page description language). The printinformation input unit 111 has the function of editing print data of aninput manuscript by changing the page order of the paged forming themanuscript, deleting the pages, etc. Furthermore, it has a print settingfunction that allows a user to set print settings when the print data ofthe manuscript is printed, where the print settings include printinglayout (Nup printing, poster printing), printing method (simplex/duplexprinting, book printing), margin settings, finishing settings (staple,central binding, punch).

[0066] The additional drawing object group setting unit 112 has theconfiguration for setting the group to which the additional drawingobject for print data belongs when drawing objects which are addedinformation such as a watermark, a date, etc. are added to the printdata of each page generated by the job ticket generation unit. Theadditional drawing object printability setting unit 113 is configured toset whether or not an additional drawing object added to the print datais to be printed for each page or for each group. The additional drawingobject group setting unit 112 and the additional drawing objectprintability setting unit 113 are collectively referred to as a drawingobject addition setting unit 115.

[0067] The job ticket generation unit 114 generates a job ticketdescribing print settings for document data based on the information(print instruction information such as processing, displaying, printing,etc. of print data) input by the print information input unit 111, theinformation (information about a group to which an additional drawingobject of each page belongs) set by the additional drawing object groupsetting unit 112, and the information (information whether or not anadditional drawing object is to be printed for each page or for eachgroup), etc. set by the additional drawing object printability settingunit 113. Described on the generated job ticket are layout designationindicating the form arrangement of each page of print data edited by theediting capability of the print information input unit 111, thedesignation (link) of an additional drawing object, the groupdesignation of an additional drawing object belonging to, theinformation about whether or not an additional drawing object is to beprinted for each group, the number of print sets, the finishingdesignation, etc. The job ticket is generate independent of documentdata (print data) The detailed explanation is described later byreferring to FIG. 7.

[0068] The central printing management server 120 of the host computer100 comprises a print information control unit 121 and a job ticketediting unit 122. Each configuration of the central printing managementserver 120 can be a device separate from the host computer 100, but itis desired that it is provided in the host computer 110.

[0069] The print information control unit 121 controls a printingoperation based on a set of print information including the job ticketgenerated by the job ticket generation unit 114 and the print data. Thejob ticket editing unit 122 has the function of editing all or a part ofthe instructions by the job ticket generated by the job ticketgeneration unit 114 by adding, changing, etc.

[0070] The print server 130 comprises an output unit informationobtaining unit 131, a print instruction interpretation unit 132, a printinformation processing unit 133, and a print information transmissionunit 134. The print server 130 is explained separate from the hostcomputer 100, but each configuration of the print server 130 can beprovided in the host computer 100.

[0071] The output unit information obtaining unit 131 has the functionof obtaining the information about the operation status of the outputdevice 140(x), the output device ID, etc.

[0072] The print instruction interpretation unit 132 has the function ofinterpreting the job ticket generated by the job ticket generation unit114, and the job ticket edited by the job ticket editing unit 122.

[0073] The print information processing unit 133 has the function ofprocessing the print information based on the interpretation result ofthe print instruction interpretation unit 132, and preparing for theoutput. The print information processing unit 133 practicallycorresponds to the printer driver corresponding to an output device 140,and generates a printing job described in page description languagebased on the interpretation result by the print instructioninterpretation unit 132.

[0074] The print information transmission unit 134 has the function oftransmitting a printing job processed by the print informationprocessing unit 133 to the output device 140(x) such as a printer, etc.

[0075] The output device 140(x) comprises a print information outputunit 141, and the print information output unit 141 converts theprinting job into an output image and outputs the result as an image ona recording sheet.

[0076] A document management server 150 of the host computer 100comprises a print information storage management unit 151 and a printinformation storage unit 152. Each configuration of the central printingmanagement server 120 can be provided in a device separate from the hostcomputer 100, but it is desired that each configuration is provided inthe host computer 100.

[0077] The print information storage management unit 151 manages theprint information storage unit 152. The print information storage unit152 stores print information including a set of a job ticket and printdata.

[0078] In the present embodiment, an additional drawing object is a“watermark” for example, the output device 140(x) is a printer connectedin a network, and the printer performs printing processing. It is alsoassumed that whether or not group collective printing is performed canbe set.

[0079] <Operation of Printing System 100>

[0080] FIGS. 2 to 5 are flowcharts of the operations of the hostcomputer 100 and the print server 130 as a printing system.

[0081] Step S201: Refer to FIG. 2.

[0082] In the print data editing device 110 of the host computer 100,the print information input unit 111 inputs information to be printedfrom an arbitrary application, and converts the format, therebyinputting print data and a print instruction.

[0083] As print data, for example, data in accordance with the PDF(Portable Document Format) is applicable. A print instruction can be,for example, the number of print sets, the form size, various finishingprocesses, simplex/duplex, N-Up, enlargement/reduction, print pagedesignation, etc.

[0084] Step S202:

[0085] The drawing object addition setting unit 115 inputs an additionaldrawing object at the designation of a user.

[0086] Practically, for example, a watermark 602 of “Secret” and awatermark 603 of “Confidential” as shown in FIG. 6 are used asadditional drawing objects. Like print data 601 (in this example, printdata on pages 1 to 11) for each page, these watermarks 602 and 603 aregenerated as a different image file in advance, and inserted in eachprint area of each image data for printing.

[0087] It is assumed that a job ticket holds only a link to a file.

[0088] Step S203:

[0089] The additional drawing object group setting unit 112 sets thegroup name of the additional drawing object input by the drawing objectaddition setting unit 115.

[0090] Step S204:

[0091] The additional drawing object printability setting unit 113 setsthe printability of each group of the additional drawing objects set bythe additional drawing object group setting unit 112.

[0092] A plurality of additional drawing objects can be input bychanging the group name of an additional drawing object by theadditional drawing object group setting unit 112.

[0093] Step S205:

[0094] The job ticket generation unit 114 generates a job ticketaccording to the print instruction (number of print sets, form size,staple, color printing, simplex/duplex printing, N-Up,enlargement/reduction, printing page designation, etc.) input by theprint information input unit 111 and the information about theadditional drawing object (watermark, annotation, stamp, etc.) input bythe drawing object addition setting unit 115.

[0095] Practically, first in step S301 as shown in FIG. 3, for example,the job ticket generation unit 114 sets in a job ticket the N-Up inputby the print information input unit 111, the enlargement/reduction, theform size, or the information about the layout such as simplex/duplexprinting, etc. (layout setting process). In step S302, the job ticketgeneration unit 114 performs the settings for the number of print setsin the job ticket (number-of-print-sets setting process). Then, in stepS303, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets the print page range inthe job ticket (print page range designating process). In step S304, thejob ticket generation unit sets the staple information in the job ticket(staple setting process). Then, in step S305, the job ticket generationunit 114 sets the information about the additional drawing object inputby the drawing object addition setting unit 115 in the job ticket(additional drawing object relevant information setting process).

[0096]FIG. 4 practically shows the additional drawing object relevantinformation setting process in step S305.

[0097] In the additional drawing object relevant information settingprocess in step S305, first in step S401, the job ticket generation unit114, for example, generates a <group designation unit> under an <entiredesignation unit> which is an entire setting area of a job ticket usinga group name (“bugaihi-1”, etc.) set in advance by the additionaldrawing object group setting unit 112 as shown in FIG. 7.

[0098] Next, in step S402, the job ticket generation unit 114 determineswhether or not additional drawing objects are collectively printed foreach group according to the printability for each group of theadditional drawing objects set in advance by the additional drawingobject printability setting unit 113. If it is determined that thecollective printing is not to be performed, then the process in stepS404 is performed. If it is determined that the collective printing isto be performed, then the process in step S403 is performed.

[0099] For example, when additional drawing objects of a target groupare collectively printed, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets “True”for the print flag (the print flag of the <group designation unit> ofthe job ticket) corresponding to the target group in step S403 as shownin FIG. 7.

[0100] If additional drawing objects of a target group are not printed,the job ticket generation unit 114 sets “False” for the print flag (theprint flag of the <group designation unit> of the job ticket)corresponding to the target group in step S404 as shown in FIG. 7.

[0101] In step S405 after the process in step S403 or S404, the jobticket generation unit 114 generates an <additional object designationunit> for a <page unit designation unit> (corresponding to a settingarea of each print unit (chapter, sheet, page)) of the printout pagespecified by a job ticket as shown in FIG. 7.

[0102] In step S406, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets the groupname used in step S401 for the <additional drawing object designationunit> generated in step S405 as shown in FIG. 7.

[0103] Thus, the target group can be associated with the additionaldrawing object.

[0104] Based on the result of the job ticket generating process (inFIGS. 3 and 4) in step S205 as described above, the job ticket as shownin FIG. 7 is obtained.

[0105]FIG. 7 shows an example of a part of the job ticket used when asetting result of the additional drawing object relevant information anda print instruction are set in the XML system, but other appropriatemethods can also be applied. A link is shown with each file name only.As shown in FIG. 7, the job ticket generation unit 114 writes the groupname of an additional drawing object and a print flag (flag indicatingwhether or not a drawing is to be added) corresponding to a target groupto the entire setting of the job ticket, and writes the group name ofthe additional drawing object to the target printout page at theadditional drawing object designation from the drawing object additionsetting unit 115. Thus, for example, in the case of an annotation, ifthe annotation is displayed when the manuscript of print data isdisplayed in the application on the host computer 100, and theannotation is not printed during printing, then the above-mentioned jobticket is generated. Thus, the added object is not printed if the printflag corresponding to the target group of the additional drawing objectwritten to the entire setting of the job ticket is described as “False”(it is obvious that 0 or 1 can be set). Therefore, a user-desiredprinting result can be easily obtained. If added drawing object is to beprinted, then it can be realized only by changing the print flag of thetarget group written to the entire setting into “True”.

[0106] The job ticket generated by the print data editing device 110 ofthe host computer 100 (information processing apparatus) as shown inFIG. 7 is provided for the central printing management server 120 at aprint instruction from the user to the print data editing device 110. Inthe central printing management server 120, the print informationcontrol unit 121 controls the printing operation by performing theprocess from the subsequent step S206 based on the job ticket receivedfrom the host computer 100.

[0107] Step S206:

[0108] The print information control unit 121 transmits a job ticket andprint data as print information for printer to the print server 130.

[0109] Step S207:

[0110] The print server 130 performs printing processing based on thejob ticket and print data from the central printing management server120.

[0111] Practically, for example, the print server 130 performs theprocess as shown in FIG. 5 on each output device (printer). FIG. 5 is aflowchart for explanation of the control in the print server 130 (S501to S504, and S506) and the output device 140 (S505).

[0112] That is, first in step S501, the print instruction interpretationunit 132 receives print information from the print information controlunit 121. Then, in step S502, the print instruction interpretation unit132 interprets the job ticket contained in the print information.

[0113] Then in step S503, the print information processing unit 133(corresponding to the printer driver) generates a printing job formed bydrawing data for printing and the page description language of theprinter control data by converting the print data contained in the printinformation into the drawing data for printing and performing a handlingprocess based on the interpretation result.

[0114] At this time, as shown in FIG. 7, since the print flag of thegroup of “bugaihi-1” is “True” in the <group designation> in the <entiredesignation unit> while the print flag of the group of “bugaihi-2” is“False”, the printing of the watermark 603 corresponding to“confidential.pdf” of “bugaihi-2” is suppressed. Thus, for the imagedata for printing on pages 4 to 7 for which the group name “bugaihi-2”of the watermark 603 is set as shown in FIG. 7, the watermark 603 is notreflected as in image data for printing 604 on page 4 as shown in FIG.6, and the watermark 602 is reflected only by the image data forprinting on pages 1 to 3 in which the group name “bugaihi-1” of thewatermark 602 is set.

[0115] Then, in step S504, the print information transmission unit 134transmits a printing job formed by the drawing data for printing and theprinter control data obtained in step S503 to the output device 140(x).

[0116] Thus, in the output device 140(x), the print information outputunit 141 performs the printing processing by the printer which is theoutput device 140(x) based on the drawing data for printing and theprinter control data. In step S505, the print server 130 monitors theprinting processing status of the output device 140.

[0117] Then, in step S506, in the print server 130, the output unitinformation obtaining unit 131 notifies the print information controlunit 121 of the central printing management server 120 of theinformation about the printing result by the output device 140(x). Theprinting result refers to the print log information about the normaltermination of printing processing, and includes the information aboutthe printing range, the number of print sets, the staple, the printdevice information, etc.

[0118] Steps S208 to S210:

[0119] In step S208, the print information control unit 121 in thecentral printing management server 120 of the host computer 100 obtainsthe printing result information notified by the output unit informationobtaining unit 131 of the print server 130. Then, in step S209, the jobticket editing unit 122 adds the printing result information receivedfrom the print information control unit 121 to the job ticket. In stepS210, the print information control unit 121 stores in the printinformation storage unit 152 of the document management server 150 ofthe host computer 100 the job ticket added by the job ticket editingunit together with the print data as the print information (a set ofprint data and a job ticket), thereby terminating the process.

[0120]FIG. 8 shows an example of a job ticket when there is no troubledetected in a printing result. The job ticket describes theabove-mentioned print log information in the recording unit.

[0121] As described above, according to the first embodiment, the linkinformation, the group name, the print flag of the additional drawingobject are described in the entire setting area of the job ticketdescribing the print settings of the print data, and the group name isdescribed in the setting area of each print unit (chapter, sheet, page).Thus, when a plurality of additional drawing objects are added to adocument, additional drawing objects to be printed and not to be printedcan only be specified only by rewriting the print flag for the entiresetting area, thereby possibly updating, changing, amending, etc. onlythe additional drawing objects. Thus, it is not necessary to determinewhether or not an additional drawing object is to be printed each timeprinting processing is performed, thereby improving the operability.

[0122] Furthermore, since a job ticket is constructed to hold aninstruction (group name) to add an additional drawing object for eachunit (for example, a page) in which an additional drawing object is tobe added, the additional drawing object (added information) can bedynamically added to a manuscript page.

[0123] [Second Embodiment]

[0124] As described above, the first embodiment is described as a systemin which the link information, the group name, the print flag of theadditional drawing object are described in the entire setting area ofthe job ticket, and the group name is described in the setting area ofeach print unit (chapter, sheet, page).

[0125] The second embodiment is described as a system in which whetheror not an additional drawing object is to be printed for the entiredocument is set, and whether or not the additional drawing object is tobe printed as an exceptional setting is set independent of the settingfor the entire document, depending on which a job ticket is generated.That is, in the second embodiment, as in the first embodiment, awatermark is used as an additional drawing object in the printing system100 shown in FIG. 1, and the printer connected to the network performsthe printing processing with the settings made for collective groupprinting and printability for each page.

[0126] According to the present embodiment, for example, after setting“printable” for collective group printing for the entire document, “notprintable” is set to negate “collective group printing” for each page asan exceptional setting for the print data on pages 2 to 5, therebysuppressing the printing of a watermark as described below.

[0127] The operations of the printing system 100 according to thepresent embodiment are described below by referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, 5,9, and 10.

[0128] Step S201: Refer to FIG. 2.

[0129] In the print data editing device 110 of the host computer 100,the print information input unit 111 inputs information to be printedfrom an arbitrary application, and converts the format, therebyinputting print data and a print instruction.

[0130] As print data, for example, data in accordance with the PDF(Portable Document Format) is applicable. A print instruction can be,for example, the number of print sets, the form size, various finishingprocesses, simplex/duplex, N-Up, enlargement/reduction, print pagedesignation, etc.

[0131] Step S202:

[0132] The drawing object addition setting unit 115 inputs an additionaldrawing object at the designation of a user.

[0133] Practically, for example, a watermark 1002 of “Secret” and awatermark 1003 of “Confidential” as shown in FIG. 10 are used asadditional drawing objects. Like print data 1001 (in this example, printdata on pages 1 to 11) for each page, these watermarks 1002 and 1003 aregenerated as a different image file in advance, and inserted in eachprint area of each image data for printing.

[0134] It is assumed that a job ticket holds only a link to a file.

[0135] Step S203:

[0136] The additional drawing object group setting unit 112 sets thegroup name of the additional drawing object input by the drawing objectaddition setting unit 115.

[0137] Step S204:

[0138] The additional drawing object printability setting unit 113 setsthe printability of each group and each page of the additional drawingobjects set by the additional drawing object group setting unit 112.

[0139] A plurality of additional drawing objects can be input bychanging the group name of an additional drawing object by theadditional drawing object group setting unit 112.

[0140] Step S205:

[0141] By performing the process shown in FIG. 3, the job ticketgeneration unit 114 generates a job ticket according to the printinstruction (number of print sets, form size, staple, color printing,simplex/duplex printing, N-Up, enlargement/reduction, printing pagedesignation, etc.) input by the print information input unit 111 and theinformation about the additional drawing object (watermark, annotation,stamp, etc.) input by the drawing object addition setting unit 115.

[0142] According to the present embodiment, the additional drawingobject relevant information setting process in step S305 shown in FIG. 3is, for example, defined as the process as shown in FIG. 9.

[0143] First, in step S901, the job ticket generation unit 114 generatesa <group designation unit> under an <entire designation unit> which isan entire setting area of a job ticket using a group name (“bugaihi-1”,etc.) set in advance by the additional drawing object group setting unit112 as shown in FIG. 11.

[0144] Next, in step S904, the job ticket generation unit 114 determineswhether or not additional drawing objects are collectively printed foreach group according to the printability for each group of theadditional drawing objects set in advance by the additional drawingobject printability setting unit 113. If it is determined that thecollective printing is not to be performed, then the process in stepS904 is performed. If it is determined that the collective printing isto be performed, then process is passed to perform the process in stepS903.

[0145] For example, when additional drawing objects of a target groupare collectively printed, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets “True”for the print flag (the print flag of the <group designation unit>of thejob ticket) corresponding to the target group in step S903 as shown inFIG. 11.

[0146] If additional drawing objects of a target group are not printed,the job ticket generation unit 114 sets “False” for the print flag (theprint flag of the <group designation unit> of the job ticket)corresponding to the target group in step S904 as shown in FIG. 11.

[0147] In step S905 after the process in step S903 or S904, the jobticket generation unit 114 generates an <additional object designationunit> for a <page unit designation unit> (corresponding to a settingarea of each print unit (page in this example)) of the printout pagespecified by a job ticket as shown in FIG. 11.

[0148] In step S906, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets the groupname used in step S901 for the <additional drawing object designationunit> generated in step S905 as shown in FIG. 11.

[0149] Thus, the target group can be associated with the additionaldrawing object.

[0150] In step S907, the job ticket generation unit 114 determineswhether or not an additional drawing object is to be printed for eachpage depending on the printability of each page of the additionaldrawing object set in advance by the additional drawing objectprintability setting unit 113. If it is determined that the additionaldrawing object is not printed for each page, process is passed to stepS908. If it is determined that the additional drawing object is printedfor each page, process is passed to step S909.

[0151] For example, when printing the additional drawing object in apage unit is suppressed, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets “False”for the print flag of the <additional object designation unit>(corresponding to the setting area of each print unit (page in thisexample)) of the <page unit designation unit> of the job ticket as shownin FIG. 11 in step S909.

[0152] On the other hand, when printing the additional drawing object ina page unit is not suppressed, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets“True” for the print flag of the <additional object designation unit>(corresponding to the setting area of each print unit (page in thisexample)) of the <page unit designation unit> of the job ticket as shownin FIG. 11 in step S908. It is assumed that the processes in steps S908and S909 are performed for each page.

[0153] In the present embodiment, since the printing processing of theadditional drawing objects is suppressed on the print data on pages 2and 5, “False” is set for the print flag of the setting area in a pageunit corresponding to the pages on which the printing processing of theadditional drawing objects is suppressed as shown in FIG. 11, and “True”is set for the print flag of the setting area in a page unitcorresponding to the pages on which the additional drawing objects areto be printed.

[0154] Based on the result of the job ticket generating process in stepS205 as described above, the job ticket as shown in FIG. 11 is obtained.

[0155]FIG. 11 shows an example of a part of the job ticket used when asetting result of the additional drawing object relevant information anda print instruction are set in the XML system, but other appropriatemethods can also be applied. A link is shown with each file name only.

[0156] For each page in chapter 2, two pieces of <contents information>are set, that is, the state (2up) is set that two logical pages arearranged in one physical page. Practically, in FIG. 10, relating topages 4 to 11 of the manuscript (that is, logical pages), page 1 ofchapter 2 of the drawing data for printing, that is, “physical page 4”corresponds to the logical pages 4 and 5, page 2 of chapter 2, that is“physical page 5” corresponds to the logical pages 6 and 7, page 3 ofchapter 2, that is, “physical page 6” corresponds to the logical pages 8and 9, and page 4 of chapter 2, that is, “physical page 7” correspondsto the logical pages 10 and 11 are arranged respectively. As shown inFIG. 11, the job ticket generation unit 114 writes the group name of anadditional drawing object and a print flag (flag indicating whether ornot a drawing is to be added) corresponding to a target group and thelink information about the additional drawing object to the entiresetting of the job ticket, and writes the group name of the additionaldrawing object and the print flag to a predetermined unit setting area(the page setting area in this example) of the target printout page atthe additional drawing object designation from the drawing objectaddition setting unit 115. Thus, for example, in the case of anannotation, if the annotation is displayed when the manuscript of printdata is displayed in the application on the host computer 100, and theannotation is not printed during printing, then the above-mentioned jobticket is generated. Thus, the added object is not printed if the printflag corresponding to the target group of the additional drawing objectwritten to the entire setting of the job ticket is described as “False”(it is obvious that 0 or 1 can be set). Therefore, a user-desiredprinting result can be easily obtained. If added drawing object is to beprinted for the entire document, then it can be realized only bychanging the print flag of the target group written to the entiresetting into “True”. When a desired print unit is selected for eachpredetermined unit, a print flag of a setting area in a predeterminedunit (for example, a page unit) is to be changed into “True” to obtain adesired printing result.

[0157] The job ticket generated by the print data editing device 110(also called a print data editing unit) of the host computer 100 asshown in FIG. 11 is provided for the central printing management server120 (also called a print management unit) of the host computer 100.

[0158] In the central printing management server 120, the printinformation control unit 121 controls the printing operation byperforming the process from the subsequent step S206 based on the jobticket received from the job ticket generation unit 114 of the printdata editing device 110.

[0159] Step S206:

[0160] The print information control unit 121 transmits a job ticket andprint data as print information for printer to the print server 130.

[0161] Step S207:

[0162] The print server 130 performs printing processing, such as shownin FIG. 5, based on the job ticket and print data from the centralprinting management server 120.

[0163] That is, first in step S501, the print instruction interpretationunit 132 receives print information. Then, in step S502, the printinstruction interpretation unit 132 interprets the job ticket containedin the print information.

[0164] Then in step S503, the print information processing unit 133generates a drawing data for printing and a printer control data byconverting the print data contained in the print information into thedrawing data for printing and performing a handling process based on theinterpretation result.

[0165] At this time, as shown in FIG. 11, since the collective printingis designated for the entire document, the print flag of each of thegroups “bugaihi-1” and “bugaihi-2” is set “True” in the <groupdesignation> in the <entire designation unit>, which is the entiresetting area of a job ticket. However, since no-printing is specified asan exceptional setting on the designation of the entire document, theprint flag is set “False” in the <additional object designation> in<page unit designation>, which is a setting area in a predetermined unitcorresponding to the output page (that is, physical page) 2 and 5(corresponding to the page the logical pages 6 and 7 are arranged).Therefore, as shown in FIG. 10, the printing of watermarks 1002 and 1003corresponding to print data 1004 and 1005 on physical pages 2 and 5 issuppressed, and the watermarks 1002 and 1003 are reflected on otherpages.

[0166] Then, in step S504, the print information transmission unit 134transmits the drawing data for printing and the printer control dataobtained in step S503 to the output device 140(x).

[0167] Thus, in the output device 140(x), the print information outputunit 141 performs the printing processing by the printer which is theoutput device 140(x) based on the drawing data for printing and theprinter control data. In step S505, the print server 130 monitors theprinting processing status of the output device 140.

[0168] Then, in step S506, in the print server 130, the output unitinformation obtaining unit 131 notifies the print information controlunit 121 of the central printing management server 120 of theinformation about the printing result by the output device 140(x). Theprinting result refers to the print log information about the normaltermination of printing, and includes the information about the printingrange, the number of print sets, the staple, the print deviceinformation, etc.

[0169] Steps S208 to S210:

[0170] In step S208, the print information control unit 121 in thecentral printing management server 120 of the host computer 100 obtainsthe printing result information notified from the print server 130.Then, in step S209, the print information control unit 121 transmits theprinting result information to the job ticket editing unit 122, the jobticket editing unit 122 adds the printing result information to the jobticket. In step S210, the print information control unit 121 stores inthe print information storage unit 152 of the document management server150 the job ticket added together with the print data as the printinformation (a set of print data and a job ticket), thereby terminatingthe process.

[0171]FIG. 12 shows an example of a job ticket when there is no troubledetected in a printing result.

[0172] As described above, according to the second embodiment, the linkinformation, the group name, the print flag of the additional drawingobject are described in the entire setting area of the job ticketdescribing the print settings of the print data, and the group name anda print flag are described in the setting area of each logical pageunit. Thus, when an additional drawing objects is added to a document,additional drawing objects to be printed and not to be printed can onlybe specified only by rewriting the print flag for the entire settingarea. Furthermore, regardless of the print settings of the additionaldrawing object on the entire document on each page, the printing can beset to further print the additional drawing objects as exceptionalsettings in a logical page unit. Thus, independent of the printabilityof the additional drawing object on the entire document, theprintability of the additional drawing objects can be switched in alogical page unit, thereby the effect is obtained that improving theflexibility in representing an additional drawing object.

[0173] [Third Embodiment]

[0174] In the above-mentioned second embodiment, the system is describedin which generates the job ticket allowing whether or not the additionaldrawing object is to be printed on the entire document is set, andwhether or not the additional drawing object can be set in a logicalpage unit as an exceptional setting based on the exceptional setting inthe entire setting and the logical page unit.

[0175] In the third embodiment, a system is described in which whetheror not the additional drawing object can be printed for the entiredocument is set, and the logical page and the physical page of thearrangement target area of the additional drawing object can be switchedby generating a job ticket based on the entire setting and thearrangement target area in the logical page unit/physical page unit.

[0176] That is, according to the third embodiment, in the print system100 shown in FIG. 1, a system is described in which two types ofadditional drawing objects, that is, a logical page annotation and aphysical page annotation as additional drawing object, are used inperforming printing processing by the output device 140(x) used as aprinter connected to a network, and collective group printing can alsobe set.

[0177] The operations of the printing system 100 according to thepresent embodiment are described below by referring to FIGS. 1 to 5, 13,and 14.

[0178] Step S201: Refer to FIG. 2.

[0179] In the print data editing device 110 of the host computer 100,the print information input unit 111 inputs print data and a printinstruction as print information.

[0180] As print data, for example, data in accordance with the PDF(Portable Document Format) is applicable. A print instruction can be,for example, the number of print sets, the form size, various finishingprocesses, simplex/duplex, N-Up, enlargement/reduction, print pagedesignation, etc.

[0181] Step S202:

[0182] The drawing object addition setting unit 115 of the host computer100 inputs an additional drawing object at the designation of a user.

[0183] Practically, for example, a physical page annotation 1302 and alogical page annotation 1303 as shown in FIG. 14 are used as additionaldrawing objects. Like print data 1301 (in this example, print data onpages 1 to 11) for each page, these physical page annotation 1302 andlogical page annotation 1303 are generated as different image files inadvance.

[0184] The physical page annotation 1302 is an annotation (physical pageannotation) inserted as “Nov. 6, 2001 ” in the physical page areacorresponding to an output sheet.

[0185] The logical page annotation 1303 is an annotation (logical pageannotation) inserted as “Ooooo” in the logical page area correspondingto manuscript data.

[0186] It is assumed that a job ticket holds only a link to a file.

[0187] Step S203:

[0188] The additional drawing object group setting unit 112 sets thegroup name and an arrangement target area of the additional drawingobject input by the drawing object addition setting unit 115.

[0189] Step S204:

[0190] The additional drawing object printability setting unit 113 setsthe printability of each group of the additional drawing objects set bythe additional drawing object group setting unit 112.

[0191] A plurality of additional drawing objects can be input bychanging the group name of an additional drawing object by theadditional drawing object group setting unit 112.

[0192] Step S205:

[0193] The job ticket generation unit 114 generates a job ticketaccording to the print instruction (number of print sets, form size,staple, color printing, simplex/duplex printing, N-Up,enlargement/reduction, printing page designation, etc.) input by theprint information input unit 111 and the information about theadditional drawing object input by the drawing object addition settingunit 115.

[0194] Practically, for example, first in step S301 as shown in FIG. 3,the job ticket generation unit 114 sets in a job ticket the N-Up, theenlargement/reduction, the form size, or the information about thelayout such as simplex/duplex printing, etc. (layout setting process).In step S302, the job ticket generation unit 114 performs the settingsfor the number of print sets (number-of-print-sets setting process).Then, in step S303, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets the printpage range in the job ticket (print page range designating process). Instep S304, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets the stapleinformation in the job ticket (staple setting process). Then, in stepS305, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets the information about theadditional drawing object (additional drawing object relevantinformation setting process).

[0195] In the present embodiment, the additional drawing object relevantinformation setting process in step S305 is assumes to be a process inaccordance with the flowchart shown in FIG. 13.

[0196] That is, first in step S1201, the job ticket generation unit 114,for example, generates a <group designation unit> under an <entiredesignation unit> which is an entire setting area of a job ticket usinga group name (“annotation-1”, etc.) set in advance by the additionaldrawing object group setting unit 112 as shown in FIG. 15.

[0197] Next, in step S1202, the job ticket generation unit 114determines whether or not additional drawing objects are collectivelyprinted for each group according to the printability for each group ofthe additional drawing objects set in advance by the additional drawingobject printability setting unit 113. If it is determined that thecollective printing is to be performed, then the process in step S1203is performed. If it is determined that the collective printing is not tobe performed, then the process in step S1204 is performed.

[0198] For example, when additional drawing objects of a target groupare collectively printed, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets “True”for the print flag (the print flag of the <group designation unit> ofthe job ticket) corresponding to the target group in step S1203 as shownin FIG. 15.

[0199] If additional drawing objects of a target group are not printed,the job ticket generation unit 114 sets “False” for the print flag (theprint flag of the <group designation unit> of the job ticket)corresponding to the target group in step S1204 as shown in FIG. 15.

[0200] In step S1205, the job ticket generation unit 114 determineswhether the arrangement target area of the additional drawing object isa logical page or a physical page depending on the arrangement targetarea predetermined by the additional drawing object group setting unit112. If it is determined that the arrangement target area is a physicalpage, process is passed to step S1206. If it is determined that thearrangement target area is a logical page, then process is passed tostep S1208.

[0201] For example, if the arrangement target area of the additionaldrawing object is a printout sheet, that is, a physical page, then thejob ticket generation unit 114 generates an <additional drawing objectdesignation unit for physical page> which is a physical page settingarea for the <page unit designation unit> of the output page for which ajob ticket is specified in step S1206 as shown in FIG. 15. Then, in stepS1207, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets the group name used instep S1201 also in the <additional drawing object designation unit forphysical page>. Thus, the target group can be associated with theadditional drawing object.

[0202] On the other hand, if the arrangement target area of theadditional drawing object is a manuscript area, that is, the logicalpage, then the job ticket generation unit 114 generates an <additionaldrawing object designation unit for logical page> which is a logicalpage setting area for the <page unit designation unit> of the outputpage for which a job ticket is specified in step S1208 as shown in FIG.15. At this time, the job ticket generation unit 114 can hold the ID ofthe contents information which is an arrangement target area as acontents ID for the <additional drawing object designation unit for alogical page> by assigning an ID when the contents information is set inthe job ticket in advance. Thus, the additional drawing object for alogical page can be associated with the contents information which is anarrangement target area.

[0203] Furthermore, in step S1209, the job ticket generation unit 114sets the group name used in step S1201 also in the <additional drawingobject designation unit for a logical page>. Thus, the target group canbe associated with the additional drawing object.

[0204] Based on the result of the job ticket generating process in stepS205 as described above, the job ticket as shown in FIG. 15 is obtained.

[0205]FIG. 15 shows an example of a part of the job ticket used when asetting result of the additional drawing object relevant information anda print instruction are set in the XML system, but other appropriatemethods can also be applied. A link is shown with each file name only.

[0206] For each page in chapter 2, two pieces of <contents information>are set, that is, the status (2up) is set that two logical pages arearranged in one physical page. Practically, in FIG. 14, relating topages 4 to 11 of the manuscript (that is, logical pages), page 1 ofchapter 2 of the drawing data for printing, that is, “physical page 4”corresponds to the logical pages 4 and 5, page 2 of chapter 2, that is“physical page 5” corresponds to the logical pages 6 and 7, page 3 ofchapter 2, that is, “physical page 6” corresponds to the logical pages 8and 9, and page 4 of chapter 2, that is, “physical page 7” correspondsto the logical pages 10 and 11 are arranged respectively.

[0207] The job ticket generated by the print data editing device 110 (aprint data editing unit) of the host computer 100 as shown in FIG. 15 isprovided for the central printing management server 120 (a central printmanagement unit). In the central printing management server 120, theprint information control unit 121 controls the printing operation byperforming the process from the subsequent step S206 based on the jobticket received from the job ticket generation unit 114 of the printdata editing device 110.

[0208] Step S206:

[0209] The print information control unit 121 transmits a job ticket andprint data as print information for printing to the print server 130.

[0210] Step S207:

[0211] The print server 130 performs printing processing such as shownin FIG. 5 based on the job ticket and print data from the centralprinting management server 120.

[0212] That is, first in step S501, the print instruction interpretationunit 132 receives print information from the print information controlunit 121 of the host computer 100. Then, in step S502, the printinstruction interpretation unit 132 interprets the job ticket containedin the print information.

[0213] Then in step S503, the print information processing unit 133generates a drawing data for printing and a printer control data byconverting the print data contained in the print information into thedrawing data for printing and performing a handling process based on theinterpretation result.

[0214] At this time, as shown in FIG. 15, the print flag of the group“annotation-1” is “False” in the <group designation> in the <entiredesignation unit>. However, the print flag of the group “annotation-2”is “True”. Therefore, only the printing of the physical page annotationof “Nov. 6, 2001 ” (hizuke.pdf) is suppressed. Therefore, the image datafor printing is not affected.

[0215] That is, in this case, as shown in FIG. 14, the physical pageannotation of “Nov. 6, 2001 ” is reflected nowhere. And the logical pageannotation of “Ooooo” is reflected on the print areas of all logicalpages.

[0216] Then, in step S504, the print information transmission unit 134transmits the drawing data for printing and the printer control dataobtained in step S503 to the output device 140(x).

[0217] Thus, in the output device 140(x), the print information outputunit 141 performs the printing processing by the printer which is theoutput device 140(x) based on the drawing data for printing and theprinter control data. In step S505, the print server 130 monitors theprinting processing status of the output device 140.

[0218] Then, in step S506, in the print server 130, the output unitinformation obtaining unit 131 notifies the print information controlunit 121 of the central printing management server 120 of theinformation about the printing result by the output device 140(x). Theprinting result refers to the print log information about the normaltermination of printing, and includes the information about the printingrange, the number of print sets, the staple, the print deviceinformation, etc.

[0219] Steps S208 to S210:

[0220] In step S208, the print information control unit 121 in thecentral printing management server 120 obtains the printing resultinformation notified from the print server 130. Then, in step S209, theprint information control unit 121 transmits the printing resultinformation to the job ticket editing unit 122, the job ticket editingunit 122 adds the printing result information to the job ticket. In stepS210, the print information control unit 121 stores in the printinformation storage unit 152 of the document management server 150 thejob ticket added by the job ticket editing unit together with the printdata as the print information (a set of print data and a jobticket)(step S210), thereby terminating the process.

[0221]FIG. 16 shows an example of a job ticket when there is no troubledetected in a printing result.

[0222] As described above, according to the third embodiment, the linkinformation, the group name, the print flag of the additional drawingobject are described in the entire setting area of the job ticketdescribing the print settings of the print data, the setting area of alogical page unit and the setting area of a physical page unit areprovided in the job ticket, and the group name is described in eachsetting area. Thus, when an additional drawing objects is added to adocument, additional drawing objects to be printed and not to be printedcan only be specified only by rewriting the print flag for the entiresetting area. Furthermore, the arrangement target area of the additionaldrawing object can be set in a logical page unit or a physical pageunit. Thus, the description in the job ticket easily realizes thearrangement of the additional drawing objects on a logical page and aphysical page without directly adding an additional drawing object to adocument, thereby allowing a user to more flexibly represent additionaldrawing objects.

[0223] [Fourth Embodiment]

[0224] As described above, according to the third embodiment, the systemis described in which generates the job ticket allowing whether or notan additional drawing object is printed for the entire document can beset, and whether the additional drawing object is to be drawn in alogical page unit or a physical page unit can be set based on the entiresetting and the settings in a logical page unit or a physical page unit.

[0225] In the fourth embodiment of the present invention, a system isdescribed in which generates a job ticket allowing whether or not anadditional drawing object is printed for the entire document is set, andwhether or not the additional drawing object can be set in a logicalpage unit or a physical page unit as an exceptional setting can be setbased on the entire setting and the settings in a logical page unit asan exceptional setting. In the printing system 100 shown in FIG. 1, asin the third embodiment, using two types of additional drawing objectsof the logical page annotation and the physical page annotation asadditional drawing objects, and using the output device 140(x) as aprinter connected in the network, the printer performs printingprocessing, and whether or not collective group printing is to beperformed is set. However, relating to page 4 of the physical page andpages 10 and 11 of the logical page, setting “noprintilng” to negate the“collective group printing” for each page suppresses the printing of thelogical page annotation and the physical page annotation.

[0226] The operations of the printing system 100 according to thepresent embodiment are described below by referring to FIGS. 1 to 5,17A, 17B and 18.

[0227] Step S201: Refer to FIG. 2.

[0228] In the print data editing device 110 of the host computer 100,the print information input unit 111 inputs print data and a printinstruction as print information.

[0229] As print data, for example, data in accordance with the PDF(Portable Document Format) is applicable. A print instruction can be,for example, the number of print sets, the form size, various finishingprocesses, simplex/duplex, N-Up, enlargement/reduction, print pagedesignation, etc.

[0230] Step S202:

[0231] The drawing object addition setting unit 115 inputs an additionaldrawing object at the designation of a user.

[0232] Practically, for example, a physical page annotation 1702 and alogical page annotation 1703 as shown in FIG. 18 are used as additionaldrawing objects. Like print data 1701 (in this example, print data onpages 1 to 11) for each page, these physical page annotation 1702 andlogical page annotation 1703 are generated as different image files inadvance, and is inserted in each print area for each piece of image datafor printing.

[0233] The physical page annotation 1702 is an annotation (physical pageannotation) inserted as “Nov. 6, 2001 ” in the physical page areacorresponding to an output sheet.

[0234] The logical page annotation 1703 is an annotation (logical pageannotation) inserted as “Ooooo” in the logical page area correspondingto manuscript data.

[0235] It is assumed that a job ticket holds only a link to a file.

[0236] Step S203:

[0237] The additional drawing object group setting unit 112 sets thegroup name and an arrangement target area of the additional drawingobject input by the drawing object addition setting unit 115.

[0238] Step S204:

[0239] The additional drawing object printability setting unit 113 setsthe printability of each group of the additional drawing objects set bythe additional drawing object group setting unit 112.

[0240] A plurality of additional drawing objects can be input bychanging the group name of an additional drawing object by theadditional drawing object group setting unit 112.

[0241] Step S205:

[0242] The job ticket generation unit 114 generates a job ticketaccording to the print instruction (number of print sets, form size,staple, color printing, simplex/duplex printing, N-Up,enlargement/reduction, printing page designation, etc.) input by theprint information input unit 111 and the information about theadditional drawing object.

[0243] Practically, for example, first in step S301 as shown in FIG. 3,the job ticket generation unit 114 sets in a job ticket the N-Up, theenlargement/reduction, the form size, or the information about thelayout such as simplex/duplex printing, etc. (layout setting process).In step S302, the job ticket generation unit 114 performs the settingsfor the number of print sets in the job ticket (number-of-print-setssetting process). Then, in step S303, the job ticket generation unit 114sets the print page range in the job ticket (print page rangedesignating process). In step S304, the job ticket generation unit 114sets the staple information in the job ticket (staple setting process).Then, in step S305, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets in the jobticket the information about the additional drawing object (additionaldrawing object relevant information setting process).

[0244] In the present embodiment, the additional drawing object relevantinformation setting process in step S305 is assumes to be a process inaccordance with the flowchart shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B.

[0245] That is, first in step S1601, the job ticket generation unit 114,for example, generates a <group designation unit> under an <entiredesignation unit> which is an entire setting area of a job ticket usinga group name (“annotation-1”, etc.) set in advance by the additionaldrawing object group setting unit 112 as shown in FIG. 19.

[0246] Next, in step S1602, the job ticket generation unit 114determines whether or not additional drawing objects are collectivelyprinted for each group according to the printability for each group ofthe additional drawing objects set in advance by the additional drawingobject printability setting unit 113. If it is determined that thecollective printing is to be performed, then the process in step S1603is performed. If it is determined that the collective printing is not tobe performed, then the process in step S1604 is performed.

[0247] For example, when additional drawing objects of a target groupare collectively printed, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets “True”for the print flag (the print flag of the <group designation unit> ofthe job ticket) corresponding to the target group of the entire settingarea in step S1603 as shown in FIG. 19.

[0248] If additional drawing objects of a target group are not printed,the job ticket generation unit 114 sets “False” for the print flag (theprint flag of the <group designation unit> of the job ticket)corresponding to the target group in step S1604 as shown in FIG. 19.

[0249] In step S1605, the job ticket generation unit 114 determineswhether the arrangement target area of the additional drawing object isa logical page or a physical page depending on the arrangement targetarea predetermined by the additional drawing object group setting unit112. If it is determined that the arrangement target area is a physicalpage, process is passed to step S1606. If it is determined that thearrangement target area is a logical page, then process is passed tostep S1608.

[0250] For example, if the arrangement target area of the additionaldrawing object is a printout sheet, then the job ticket generation unit114 generates an <additional drawing object designation unit forphysical page> for the <page unit designation unit> (page setting area)of the output page for which a job ticket is specified in step S1606 asshown in FIG. 19. Then, in step S1607, the job ticket generation unit114 sets the group name used in step S1601 also in the <additionaldrawing object designation unit for physical page>. Thus, the targetgroup can be associated with the additional drawing object.

[0251] Then, the processes from step S1610 described later areperformed.

[0252] On the other hand, if the arrangement target area of theadditional drawing object is a manuscript area, then the job ticketgeneration unit 114 generates an <additional drawing object designationunit for a logical page> for the <page unit designation unit> (pagesetting area) of the output page for which a job ticket is specified instep S1608 as shown in FIG. 19. At this time, the job ticket generationunit 114 can hold the ID of the contents information which is anarrangement target area as a contents ID for the <additional drawingobject designation unit for a logical page> by assigning an ID when thecontents information is set in the job ticket in advance. Thus, theadditional drawing object for a logical page can be associated with thecontents information which is an arrangement target area.

[0253] Furthermore, in step S1609, the job ticket generation unit 114sets the group name used in step S1601 also in the <additional drawingobject designation unit for a logical page>. Thus, the target group canbe associated with the additional drawing object.

[0254] Then, the processes from step S1613 described later areperformed.

[0255] After the process in step S1607 (after the process performed whenthe arrangement target area of the additional drawing object is aprintout sheet, that is, after the process for a physical page), it isdetermined in step S1610 by the job ticket generation unit 114 whetheror not an additional drawing object is printed for each physical pagedepending on the printability for each page of the additional drawingobject predetermined by the additional drawing object printabilitysetting unit 113. If it is determined that the additional drawing objectis printed for each physical page, then process is passed to step S1612.If it is determined that the additional drawing object is not printedfor each physical page, then process is passed to step S1611.

[0256] For example, when the printing of the additional drawing objectin a page unit is suppressed, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets“False” for the print flag of the <additional object designation unitfor physical page> of the <page unit designation unit> which is a pagesetting area of the job ticket in step S1612 as shown in FIG. 19.

[0257] On the other hand, when the printing of the additional drawingobject in a page unit is not suppressed, the job ticket generation unit114 sets “True” for the print flag of the <additional object designationunit for physical page> of the <page unit designation unit> which is apage setting area of the job ticket in step S1611 as shown in FIG. 19.

[0258] After the process in step S1609 (after the process performed whenthe arrangement target area of the additional drawing object is amanuscript area, that is, after the process for a logical page), it isdetermined in step S1613 by the job ticket generation unit 114 whetheror not an additional drawing object is printed for each logical pagedepending on the printability for each page of the additional drawingobject predetermined by the additional drawing object printabilitysetting unit 113. If it is determined that the additional drawing objectis printed for each logical page, then process is passed to step S1615.If it is determined that the additional drawing object is not printedfor each logical page, then process is passed to step S1614.

[0259] For example, when the printing of the additional drawing objectin a page unit is suppressed, the job ticket generation unit 114 sets“False” for the print flag of the <additional object designation unitfor logical page> of the <page unit designation unit> which is a pagesetting area of the job ticket in step S1615 as shown in FIG. 19.

[0260] On the other hand, when the printing of the additional drawingobject in a page unit is not suppressed, the job ticket generation unit114 sets “True” for the print flag of the <additional object designationunit for logical page> of the <page unit designation unit> which is apage setting area of the job ticket in step S1614 as shown in FIG. 19.

[0261] In accordance with the result of the job ticket generatingprocess in step S205 described above, the job ticket such as shown inFIG. 19 is to be obtained.

[0262] In the embodiment, since the printing of each annotation issuppressed for each page on the physical page 4 and the logical pages 10and 11, “False” is set for the print flag of the additional drawingobject for physical page corresponding to the physical page 4 and theprint flag of the additional drawing object for the logical page on thelogical pages 10 and 11, and “True” is set for other print flags asshown in FIG. 19.

[0263]FIG. 19 shows an example of a part of the job ticket used when asetting result of the additional drawing object relevant information anda print instruction are set in the XML system, but other appropriatemethods can also be applied. A link is shown with each file name only.

[0264] For each page in chapter 2, two pieces of <contents information>are set, that is, the status (2up) is set that two logical pages arearranged in one physical page. Practically, in FIG. 14, relating topages 4 to 11 of the manuscript (that is, logical pages), page 1 ofchapter 2 of the drawing data for printing, that is, “physical page 4”corresponds to the logical pages 4 and 5, page 2 of chapter 2, that is“physical page 5” corresponds to the logical pages 6 and 7, page 3 ofchapter 2, that is, “physical page 6” corresponds to the logical pages 8and 9, and page 4 of chapter 2, that is, “physical page 7” correspondsto the logical pages 10 and 11 are arranged respectively.

[0265] The job ticket generated by the print data editing device 110 (aprint data editing unit) of the host computer 100 as shown in FIG. 19 isprovided for the central printing management server 120 (a central printmanagement unit) of the host computer 100.

[0266] In the central printing management server 120, the printinformation control unit 121 controls the printing operation byperforming the process from the subsequent step S206 based on the jobticket received from the job ticket generation unit 114 of the printdata editing device 110.

[0267] Step S206:

[0268] The print information control unit 121 transmits a job ticket andprint data as print information for printer to the print server 130.

[0269] Step S207:

[0270] The print server 130 performs printing processing such as shownin FIG. 5 based on the job ticket and print data from the centralprinting management server 120.

[0271] That is, first in step S501, the print instruction interpretationunit 132 receives print information. Then, in step S502, the printinstruction interpretation unit 132 interprets the job ticket containedin the print information.

[0272] Then in step S503, the print information processing unit 133which is a printer driver generates a drawing data for printing and aprinter control data by converting the print data contained in the printinformation into the drawing data for printing and performing a handlingprocess based on the interpretation result.

[0273] At this time, as shown in FIG. 19, the print flags of each group“annotation-1” and “annotation-2” are both “True” in the <groupdesignation> in the <entire designation unit>. However, in<additionalobject designation> in <page unit designation>, which is a page settingarea corresponding to physical page 4 and logical pages 10 to 11, theprint flag is “False”, therefore, only the printing of the annotation onthese pages is suppressed, and the image data for printing is notaffected.

[0274] That is, as shown in FIG. 18, on the physical page 4 (1704), theprinting of the physical page annotation of “Nov. 6, 2001 ” (hizuke.pdf)is suppressed (1704 shown in FIG. 18). On the logical pages 10 and 11(1705), the printing of the logical page annotation of “Ooooo”(Ooooo.pdf) is suppressed. Thus, they are not reflected on the imagedata for printing.

[0275] Then, in step S504, the print information transmission unit 134transmits the drawing data for printing and the printer control dataobtained in step S503 to the output device 140(x).

[0276] Thus, in the output device 140(x), the print information outputunit 141 performs the printing processing by the printer which is theoutput device 140(x) based on the drawing data for printing and theprinter control data. In step S505, the print server 130 monitors theprinting processing status of the output device 140.

[0277] Then, in step S506, in the print server 130, the output unitinformation obtaining unit 131 notifies the print information controlunit 121 of the central printing management server 120 of theinformation about the printing result by the output device 140(x) (stepS506). The printing result refers to the print log information about thenormal termination of printing processing, and includes the informationabout the printing range, the number of print sets, the staple, theprint device information, etc.

[0278] Steps S208 to S210:

[0279] In step S208, the print information control unit 121 in thecentral printing management server 120 of the host computer 100 obtainsthe printing result information notified from the print server 130.Then, in step S209, the print information control unit 121 transmits theprinting result information to the job ticket editing unit 122, the jobticket editing unit 122 adds the printing result information to the jobticket. In step S210, the print information control unit 121 stores inthe print information storage unit 152 of the document management server150 the job ticket added together with the print data as the printinformation (a set of print data and a job ticket), thereby terminatingthe process.

[0280]FIG. 20 shows an example of a job ticket when there is no troubledetected in a printing result.

[0281] As described above, according to the fourth embodiment, the linkinformation, the group name, the print flag of the additional drawingobject are described in the entire setting area of the job ticketdescribing the print settings of the print data, the setting area of alogical page unit and the setting area of a physical page unit areprovided in the job ticket, and the group name and print flag aredescribed in each setting area. Thus, when an additional drawing objectsis added to a document, additional drawing objects to be printed and notto be printed can only be specified only by rewriting the print flag forthe entire setting area. Furthermore, the arrangement target area of theadditional drawing object can be set in a logical page unit or aphysical page unit. Additionally, independent of the print settings ofthe additional drawing object for the entire document in a physical pageunit and logical page unit, whether or not the additional drawing objectis to be printed in a physical page and a logical page as an exceptionalsetting can be set. Thus, the description in the job ticket easilyrealizes the arrangement of the additional drawing objects on a logicalpage and a physical page without directly adding an additional drawingobject to a document, and the printability in the physical page unit andin the logical page unit can be switched independent of the printabilityof the additional drawing object for the entire document, therebyallowing a user to more flexibly represent additional drawing objects.

[0282] The object of the present invention can be obviously attained byproviding a system or an apparatus with a storage medium storing aprogram code of the software for realizing the function of a host andterminals according to the first to fourth embodiments, and the computer(or CPU or MPU) of the system or the apparatus reading and executing theprogram stored in the storage medium.

[0283] In this case, the program code itself read from the storagemedium realizes the function according to the first to fourthembodiment, and the storage medium storing the program code and theprogram code configure the present invention.

[0284] As a storage medium for providing a program code can be used ROM,a flexible disk, a hard disk, an optical disk, a magneto-optical disk,CD-ROM, CD-R, a magnetic tape, a non-volatile memory card, etc.

[0285] Furthermore, not only the functions of the first to fourthembodiments realized by executing the program code read by the computer,but also the functions of the embodiments realized by a part or all ofthe actual process performed by the OS, etc. operating in the computeraccording to the instruction of the program code can be obviouslyincluded in the present invention.

[0286] Additionally, the present invention also includes the functionaccording to the first to fourth embodiment obtained by a part or all ofthe actual process performed by the CPU, etc. in the function expansionboard and the function expanding unit according to the instruction ofthe program code which is read from the storage medium is written to thememory of the expanded function board inserted into the computer and thefunction expansion unit connected to the computer.

[0287]FIG. 21 shows the function 2000 of the abovementioned computer.

[0288] A computer function 2000 are configured by communicablyconnecting a CPU 2001, ROM 2002, RAM 2003, a keyboard controller (KBC)2005 of a keyboard (KB) 2009 CRT controller (CRTC) 2006 of a CRT display(CRT) 2010 as a display unit, a disk controller (DKC) 2007 of a harddisk (HD) 2011 and a flexible disk (FD) 2012 and a network interfacecontroller (NIC) 2008 for connection to a network 2020 through a systembus 2004 as shown in FIG. 21.

[0289] The CPU 2001 totally controls each component connected to thesystem bus 2004 by executing the software provided by the softwarestored in the ROM 2002 or the HD 2011 or the FD 2012.

[0290] That is, the CPU 2001 controls the realization of the operationsaccording to the first to fourth embodiments by reading the processprogram in accordance with a predetermined process sequence from the ROM2002, HD 2011, or FD 2012 for execution.

[0291] The RAM 2003 functions as main memory of the CPU 2001, a workarea, etc.

[0292] The KBC 2005 controls an instruction input from the KB 2009, apointing device, etc. not shown. The CRTC 2006 controls the display ofthe CRT 2010.

[0293] The DKC 2007 controls the access to the HD 2011 and the FD 2012storing a boot program, various applications, an editing file, a userfile, a network management program, and a predetermined process programaccording to the present embodiments.

[0294] The NIC 2008 bidirectionally communicates with an apparatus or asystem on the network 2020.

[0295] As many apparently widely different embodiments of the presentinvention can be made without departing from the spirit and scopethereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to thespecific embodiments thereof except as defined in the appended claims.

[0296] According to the above-mentioned embodiments of the presentinvention, the configuration is such that when an additional drawingobject is added to the print data of the target page for printout, a jobticket for use in the printout is generated according to the informationabout the additional drawing object and the instruction informationabout the printout, and the print data of the target page is outputbased on the job ticket.

[0297] The additional drawing object (added information) in thisembodiment can be, for example, data such as an annotation, a watermark,a form overlay, variable data (data for printing for each client in aspecific position of printing such as direct mail, etc.).

[0298] With the above-mentioned configuration, for example, thefollowing effects (1) to (7) can be obtained.

[0299] (1) Since print instruction information and information about anadditional drawing object are contained for a job ticket, printing outusing the object ticket realizes the printing on the added information(additional drawing object) without changing the original print data.

[0300] (2) The print contents can be classified into data with anadditional drawing object, data without an additional drawing object,etc. for each distribution target and purpose of the printing.

[0301] (3) When a reprinting is performed using print data and printinstruction information, added information is not embedded in print dataas in the conventional methods. That is, since added information iscontained in the object ticket corresponding to print data, only theadded information can be edited by updating, changing, correcting, etc.of data.

[0302] (4) When editing is performed only on the added information, aprintable environment (OS, printer, display, etc.) is not restrictedbecause the added information is not embedded in the print data and theapplication for performing the embedding process of the addedinformation on the print data is not required. Therefore, for example,an amended print designation can be issued from a mobile phone, etc.

[0303] (5) Since added information is not embedded in the print data asin the conventional methods, but the added information is contained inthe object ticket corresponding to the print data, when only the printdata and the print instruction information are stored, it is notnecessary to simultaneously store an application for the embeddingprocess of the added information.

[0304] (6) For example, although a large volume of data is contained inthe printing of several thousands of pages, the print data of the pagescan be easily edited by collective update, change, correction, etc.

[0305] (7) The convenience in printing through a network can beimproved.

[0306] As described above, according to the present invention, an objectattribute including the group name of an additional drawing object isdescribed in the entire setting area of the job ticket describing printsettings of print data, and the group name is described in a settingarea in a predetermined unit, thereby without additionally directlywriting the additional drawing object to a document easily realizing thearrangement of the additional drawing object in a predetermined unit forthe job ticket.

[0307] Furthermore, by describing the object attribute containing aprint flag of an additional drawing object in the entire setting area ofthe job ticket when an additional drawing object is added to a document,whether or not the additional drawing object is to be printed can becollectively set by rewriting the print flag of the entire setting area.The process of setting means for the job ticket is simplified.

[0308] Additionally, by describing the object attribute including thegroup name and a print flag of an additional drawing object in theentire setting area of the job ticket, and by describing the group nameand the print flag in the setting area in a predetermined unit, whetheror not the additional drawing object is to be printed in a predeterminedunit can be set independent of the setting of the additional drawingobject for the entire document, there by allowing a user to more freelyrepresent the additional drawing object.

[0309] Furthermore, by providing a physical page setting area and alogical page setting area in a setting area in a predetermined unit, anddescribing the group name of an additional drawing object in eachsetting area, whether the additional drawing object is arranged on alogical page or a physical page can be easily set.

What is claimed is:
 1. An information processing apparatus which adds anadditional drawing object to document data to be printed and issues aprint instruction, comprising: job ticket generation means forgenerating a job ticket describing print settings for the document data;and additional drawing object setting means for setting the additionaldrawing object added to the document data, wherein said job ticketgeneration means edits the job ticket depending on the settings for theadditional drawing object by said additional drawing object settingmeans, and generates the job ticket describing a print flag indicatingwhether or not the additional drawing object is to be printed.
 2. Theinformation processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein: saidadditional drawing object setting means sets a group name of theadditional drawing object; and said job ticket generation meansdescribes a group name and a print flag of the additional drawing objectset by said additional drawing object setting means for an entiresetting of the job ticket, and describes the group name of theadditional drawing object in a setting area in a predetermined unit ofthe document data.
 3. The information processing apparatus according toclaim 1, wherein: said additional drawing object setting means comprisesprintability setting means for setting whether or not the additionaldrawing object is to be printed for the entire document, andindependently setting whether or not the additional drawing object is tobe printed as an exceptional setting for a predetermined unit of thedocument data; and said job ticket generation means generates a jobticket describing a print flag in a setting area in a predetermined unitwhen said printability setting means sets whether or not the additionaldrawing object is to be printed independent of a predetermined unit ofthe document data.
 4. The information processing apparatus according toclaim 3, wherein said predetermined unit is a physical page unit as anoutput sheet or a logical page unit as a manuscript.
 5. The informationprocessing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said additionaldrawing object is a watermark or an annotation.
 6. A printing processingmethod carried out in an information processing apparatus which adds anadditional drawing object to document data to be printed and issues aprint instruction, comprising: a job ticket generating step ofgenerating a job ticket describing print settings for the document data;and an additional drawing object setting step of setting for theadditional drawing object added to the document data, wherein said jobticket generation step edits the job ticket depending on the settingsfor the additional drawing object in said additional drawing objectsetting step, and generates the job ticket describing a print flagindicating whether or not the additional drawing object is to beprinted.
 7. The printing processing method according to claim 6,wherein: said additional drawing object setting step sets a group nameof the additional drawing object; and said job ticket generating stepdescribes a group name and a print flag of the additional drawing objectset in said additional drawing object setting step for an entire settingof the job ticket, and describes the group name of the additionaldrawing object in a setting area in a predetermined unit of the documentdata.
 8. The printing processing method according to claim 6, wherein:said additional drawing object setting step comprises a printabilitysetting step for setting whether or not the additional drawing object isto be printed for the entire document, and independently setting whetheror not the additional drawing object is to be printed as an exceptionalsetting for a predetermined unit of the document data; and said jobticket generating step generates a job ticket describing a print flag ina setting area in a predetermined unit when said printability settingstep sets whether or not the additional drawing object is to be printedindependent of a predetermined unit of the document data.
 9. Theprinting processing method according to claim 8, wherein saidpredetermined unit is a physical page unit as an output sheet or alogical page unit as a manuscript.
 10. The printing processing methodaccording to claim 6, wherein the additional drawing object is awatermark or an annotation.
 11. A printing processing program forexecution in an information processing apparatus which adds anadditional drawing object to document data to be printed and whichissues a print instruction, comprising the program steps of: a jobticket generating step of generating a job ticket describing printsettings for the document data; and an additional drawing object settingstep of setting for the additional drawing object added to the documentdata, wherein said job ticket generation step edits the job ticketdepending on the settings for the additional drawing object in saidadditional drawing object setting step, and generates the job ticketdescribing a print flag indicating whether or not the additional drawingobject is to be printed.
 12. The printing processing program accordingto claim 11, wherein: said additional drawing object setting step sets agroup name of the additional drawing object; and said job ticketgenerating step describes a group name and a print flag of theadditional drawing object set in said additional drawing object settingstep for an entire setting of the job ticket, and describes the groupname of the additional drawing object in a setting area in apredetermined unit of the document data.
 13. The printing processingprogram according to claim 11, wherein: said additional drawing objectsetting step comprises a printability setting step for setting whetheror not the additional drawing object is to be printed for the entiredocument, and independently setting whether or not the additionaldrawing object is to be printed as an exceptional setting for apredetermined unit of the document data; and said job ticket generatingstep generates a job ticket describing a print flag in a setting area ina predetermined unit when said printability setting step sets whether ornot the additional drawing object is to be printed independent of apredetermined unit of the document data.
 14. The printing processingprogram according to claim 13, wherein said predetermined unit is aphysical page unit as an output sheet or a logical page unit as amanuscript.
 15. The printing processing program according to claim 11,wherein said additional drawing object is a watermark or an annotation.